PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT FORT SUMTER IN 1861
"THEY have fired on Fort Sumter!" These are the words that rang across the continent on the morning of the twelfth of April, in 1861, and the echo was heard around the world. The shot that began one of the fiercest conflicts that civilization has ever seen was fired just before sunrise at four in the morning. Special editions of newspapers heralded the tidings through the land. Thousands of excited men crowded the streets. Trade was suspended. Night and day the people thronged the thoroughfares, eager to hear the latest word from the scene of action. Friday and Saturday were the most anxious days that the American people have ever experienced. When the news came on Sunday morning that Major Robert Anderson had evacuated the fort with flags flying and drums beating "Yankee Doodle," the North was electrified with patriotism. The stars and stripes were thrown to the breeze from spires of churches, windows of residences, railway stations and public buildings. The fife and drum were heard in the streets. Recruiting offices were opened on public squares. Men left their business and stepped into the ranks. A few days later, when the brave defenders of Fort Sumter reached New York, the air was alive with floating banners. Flowers, fruits and delicacies were showered upon the one hundred and twenty-nine courageous men who had so gallantly withstood the onslaught of six thousand. Crowds seized the heroes and carried them through the streets on their shoulders. The South was mad with victory. It was believed that its independence had been already gained. Several days after the bombardment this picture was secured of the historic fort in South Carolina, about which centered the beginning of a great war. It was taken in four sections and this is a panoramic view of them all. The photograph did not fall into the possession of the Government, but was held for many years by a Confederate naval officer, Daniel Ellis, commander of the twenty-gun ram "Chicora" and at one time in command of Fort Sumter. It is now in possession of James W. Eldridge of Hartford. It corrects the erroneous impression that the fort was demolished in 1861. It stood the bombardment with but slight damage, other than a few holes knocked in the masonry as this picture testifies. In saluting the American flag before the evacuation on April 15, Private Daniel Hough was killed and three men wounded by the premature explosion of one of their own guns.
"JOHN BROWN'S body lies a-mouldering in the grave; his soul is marching on!" In every public meeting, through village and town, along the lines of recruits marching to the front, around the army campfires, this song became the battle-cry. It had been but three years since John Brown, with seventeen whites and five negroes, seized the United States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and began the freeing of slaves. It required eighteen hours and 1,500 militia and marines to subdue the ardent abolitionist. He took refuge in the armory engine house. The doors were battered down. Eight of the insurgents were killed. Brown, with three whites and a half dozen negroes, was captured and hanged. The Confederates planned its capture, but upon their approach on the eighteenth of April, in 1861, three days after the firing on Fort Sumter, they found only the burning arsenal. They held the coveted position with 6,500 men, but fearing the attack of 20,000 Unionists, deserted it. It was held by the Union troops until 1862, when, on the fifteenth of September, Stonewall Jackson bombarded the town and forced its surrender. The Union loss was 80 killed, 120 wounded, 11,583 captured. The Confederate loss was 500. In this engagement were the brave boys of the 12th New York State Militia; 39th, 111th, 115th, 125th and 126th New York; 32nd, 60th and 87th Ohio; 9th Vermont; 65th Illinois; 1st and 3rd Maryland "Home Brigade;" 15th Indiana Volunteers; Phillips' Battery; 5th New York; Graham's, Pott's and Rigby's Batteries; 8th New York; 12th Illinois, and 1st Maryland Cavalry. It was during these days that the Army of the Potomac engaged the Confederate forces in bloody conflict at Turner's and Crampton's Gap, South Mountain, Maryland, leaving Harper's Ferry again in the hands of the Union.
PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT HARPER'S FERRY
THERE is not a fleet on the seas that can withstand a modern battery if kept under fire by proper obstructions. Modern sea-coast artillery can destroy a vessel at a single shot. The watchdog that guarded the waterway to the National Capital in the Civil War was Fortress Monroe. The old stone fort, partially protected by masses of earth that sheltered it from the view and fire of the assailant, challenged the ugliest iron-clads to pass through Hampton Roads. Fortress Monroe early became the base of operations and under its protection volunteer regiments were mobilized. When the 2nd New York Volunteers reached the fort, about six weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter, the 4th Massachusetts Volunteers had come to the assistance of the regular garrison of four companies of artillery on duty day and night over their guns. Something of the conditions may be understood by the statement of an officer who says that his men had to appear on parade with blankets wrapped about them to conceal a lack of proper garments, and sometimes stood sentinel with naked feet and almost naked bodies. The volunteers arrived faster than provisions could be furnished and there was a scarcity of food. So great was the difficulty in procuring small arms that some of the soldiers were not really fitted for war during the year of 1861. The Government operations were centered around Fortress Monroe and President Lincoln personally visited the headquarters to ascertain the actual conditions. Brady was admitted behind the parapets with his camera and secured this photograph of one of the heaviest guns in the great fortification.